KUALA LUMPUR: Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) broadband subscribers may experience reduced Internet access speed at least until the end of the month due to a fault on the Asia Submarine Cable Express (ASE) system off Singapore.

TM, in a statement, today said the fault on the ASE system has affected the Cahaya Malaysia submarine cable linking Malaysia to North Asia and the United States (US).

“ASE consists of six fiber pairs of which TM owns two fiber pairs, named Cahaya Malaysia.

“We have immediately taken proactive steps by optimising our networks to reduce congestion and diverting traffic to alternative routes, thus, minimising the impact to our users,” it said.

TM said the restoration works require concerted efforts of all consortium members, and is scheduled to begin on March 25 and is expected to be completed on March 31.

“However, we wish to highlight that the restoration works will be subject to weather and sea conditions, identification of the actual location of the fault and the challenges ahead, working at great sea depths and pressure.”

“During this period, Internet users may experience some degree of service degradation such as slow browsing and high latency while accessing international websites mainly hosted in the US, North Asia and Europe.

“Customers using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and other critical business applications linked to US, North Asia and Europe may also experience some level of service degradation.”

TM will provide necessary updates on the progress of the restoration works via its official customer support accounts on Twitter @TMConnects as well as on Facebook at Everyone Connects, and will monitor feedback from its customers on the quality of service experienced.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to assure customers that we are undertaking all necessary measures to ensure that customers continue to experience uninterrupted service.”

Should netizens have any questions or require any assistance, they can contact TM via @TMConnects​ or Everyone Connects​ Facebook page​ or via email at help@tm.com.my. ​

Every end marks a new beginning. We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2016 and thank you for the continuous support as we look forward in improving our services to serve you better!